Taxi Drivers’ Protest Dublin

On Thursday October 1st 2009, Taxi Drivers in Dublin city decided they would like to make our lives a living hell. Our little transportation system is far from perfect, the majority of bus routes going northside/southside all go through what is basically Dublin’s main street, O’Connell St.

What a great opportunity to cause havoc!

The Taxi drivers positioned their cabs sideways on the street so buses had to be rerouted and this caused traffic chaos.

Friday Morning: As you will know if you have been reading my blog, I have had to make some unfortunate visits to hospital this Summer. Seeing as I am back in college my hospital appointment on Friday was for 0750, my first lecture at 0900.

I get to the hospital, get my blood test done and off on my crutch adventures to get to college. I might add my poor auld leg has been sore for the past week or two so I’m relying more on the crutches. (dont want to go back into the hospital).

I get to the Luas stop, manage to find a nice spot where I wont be squished by 9-5 workers on their morning commute.

We pass Heuston station onto Museum, then to Smithfield. People get off, people get on, the doors close, then nothing. After a few minutes the driver tells us that we can’t move any further because the taxi drivers are parked on the tram lines and wont get off.

I’m not a stick in the mud, you can do whatever the hell you want and protest about anything you want, I don’t care but I dont see why you should be allowed to ruin other people’s daily lives and commutes. I just don’t understand why the Taxi Drivers would want to piss off their potential clientele.

As it turns out I had to get a cab to college. One guy who was brave enough to work, the previous day protestors gave one driver who worked a terrible time and it ended up on the front of Friday’s newspaper. My driver was keen to point out it wasn’t a strike but a protest.

So apart from the strike, sorry protest, why do I have no sympathy for them, trying to go a long way round to get an extra euro or two on a fare is something I’ve become accustomed to unfortunately.

Being on the auld crutches, I sometimes need to get a cab to and from places and have now become an expert Dublin city navigator.

..Drivers! Enough already I have absolutely no sympathy for you anymore…

Comments

About The Author

Nessy is an Irish media creative living in LDN. She presents The London Ear on RTÉ 2XM and is a freelance podcast producer and social media manager. Her spare time is spent writing the pages of this blog. She likes Lyons Gold Blend Tea and dislikes writing about herself in the third person.